A TwoHeaded Cerberus
by Kismetfish
Summary: Shepard has done it again. The commander has stopped the Collectors and the Reapers once more, destroying the collector base. Now The Illusive Man decides He has taken it too far, so he decides to get even. What will Shepard do now?


"Look, Shepard, we need to stop the Reapers, so you're going to do this my way, or I'm shutting your operation down. We could've used that base to hit the reapers with their own tech!" said the Illusive Man, with force in his voice. Apparently, he was trying to get Commander John Shepard to start seeing things his way, but Shepard wasn't about to let that happen.

"You're on my team now, and I'm doing things my own way, and we're going to beat the Reapers without their help. Humanity can stand on it's own!" Shepard used his most forceful tone against the man who had brought him back to life. "I knew Miranda was right when she suggested we put some kind of control device in you. Get out of my-" The feed cut.

"God, he was getting annoying," Joker stated over the Intercom. "Come on, Commander, let's go." Shepard walked out onto the CIC to find all of his squad members, smiling warmly at him.

"Good job, Commander," stated Jacob Taylor, the soldier on deck.

"Shepard." said Miranda, and gave him an approving nod.

"Wouldn't have done it any other way, old friend" smiled Garrus.

"Nice one, Shep" Kasumi said.

"Shepard," growled Grunt. "That was one hell of a fight," he smiled.

The Spectre walked down the line, reaching Tali'Zorah. He grinned, and the quarian leaped toward Shepard. He grabbed her in close, and shared a hug that lasted a moment or two.

"I'm so glad you made it out of there, Keelah. When you jumped for the ship, I was so scared you weren't going to reach it.. Don't ever scare me like that again!" exclaimed Tali in a worried tone.

"Don't worry, Tali. It'll only happen at least one other time," said the Commander jokingly. He gave her a warm smile, and hugged her again. He walked down the line, and Legion walked up to him.

"We have reached consensus that Shepard-Commander made the logical decision destroying Collector base." Legion's flaps moved in accordance with the statement.

"Shepard. Wanted to tell you. Think you made right decision. Although. Collector Base could've served well. Oh well. Better than handing it to Illusive Man. Honored to work with you." the Professor smiled in approval.

"Shepard, I wanted to say that I believe you did the right thing by destroying the base, instead of handing it to the Illusive Man." The Justicar smiled, and nodded.

"Shepard, nice job blowing that place up. I would've planted a bigger bomb, plus used to my biotics to detonate it 10 times stronger." Jack grinned mischievously and help up a hand for a high-five. Shepard returned the action, grinning as well. The commander saluted them all, smiled and walked to the Galaxy Map. "Joker, set a course for Illium., A round of drinks for Everyone, Illusive Man's treat! The crew and squad burst out laughing, and Joker went FTL for Illium.

As the Normandy docked into Nos Astra, and Shepard and the squad walked out, they found themselves at gunpoint, a blockade of Asari commandos prohibiting them from moving past. Shepard stepped up to the line and questioned, "Alright, what's going on here?" None of the Asari's moved. Shepard asked again. No response. As he was about to interrogate for the third time, someone spoke.

"Shepard, I told you we were going to do this my way, now, I suggest you stand down, and turn yourself in to me. Immediately. Or else." A puff of smoke went up as the sentence finished, and the Asari's moved aside to reveal The Illusive Man, standing there, in the flesh. No quantum entanglement unit, no FTL comm links. His enigmatic eyes glaring at the squad, but focused on Shepard. "Have you ever faced an Asari commando unit before? Few humans have. I'm lucky enough to be able to afford one, even with all those credits wasted on bringing you back. Grab the quarian." Three of the Commandos moved what seemed to be as fast as FTL travel, grabbed Tali and moved back towards the Cerberus Leader almost as fast as they had sprung. "If you want your quarian back, you are going to follow my orders, and we are going to stop the reapers my way. Goodbye, Shepard." The angry, corrupted Cerberus leader disappeared into the crowds of Nos Astra, leaving Shepard and crew helpless, shocked, and speechless.


End file.
